Pastoral Prayer 2

Pastoral Prayer

 

Let us pray:

 

God of love and grace,

almighty God and Father,

We worship you,

we give you thanks,

we praise you for your glory.

 

God of salvation,

Thank you for offering us salvation here and now

as a blessing experienced in the present moment.

 

Thank you for reaching out to us with your love

before we even knew your mercy.

 

Thank you for enveloping us in that love

and holding us into your embrace.

 

Thank you for making us happy through the gift of faith

in Jesus Christ.

 

Thank you for pardoning our sins and accepting us

without reservation as your children.

 

Thank you for taking the initiative to connect the gap

that separates us from you – a relative change in relationship

that leads us to rejoice in hope.

 

Thank you for giving us a new birth – a real change

that makes it possible for us to be more and more dead to sin

and more and more alive in your love.

 

Thank you for the promise of perfect love in our lives - a love

that excludes all sin and fills our heart with a capacity

to love you and our neighbors.

 

Above all things, you are God of promise and God of love.

Fulfill your vision for our lives for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Purify our hearts and fill it with all the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that you are willing and able to fill our heart

to overflowing at any moment by your grace.

 

In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

 

[Cited and modified from “Praying in the Wesleyan Spirit” by Paul Chilcote, p.131~p.132]

 

(The Lord’s Prayer)

 

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory, for ever. Amen.